After years of constant research and consistent diet of pizza and beer,
I feel that I’m now an expert in the world of modeling. Ok, I have to admit,
lately it’s been far more pizza than beer, but that’s beside the
point.

What I mean is that I’ve had a great deal of time to study
the types of modelers out there and have finally taken the time to
put pen to paper and put down some clear definitions for you. See
where you fall in this list.

The newbie. This is the guy who shows up at shows and meetings and
is still genuinely excited about the hobby. They are excited to ask
questions of the more seasoned (and sometimes grizzled) veterans
of the club and show circuits. They hang on their every word and
sometimes even take notes so they can improve their builds.

The compliment seeker. This is the guy who will seek out an expert
in order for them to validate their kits. They aren’t seeking
true feedback they are only looking for a pat on the back. In fact
if they do not garner the proper reaction they spend the rest of
their time at the gathering bashing the “expert know it all
prick” that shot them down.

The expert. This is something of a dual category. On one hand you
have guys that know a lot about a particular subject and will share
it if asked. On the other hand you have a guy that you can’t
shut up about all the things that are wrong with a kit that someone
brought in, whether they have been asked about it or not.

The joy sucker. We’ve talked about this in the past. This
is the guy that basically tries to make everyone in the hobby as
miserable as they are. For example, they will see someone with a
freshly purchased kit in their hand and rather than helping to build
excitement for the kit, they start listing off all the tiny and not
so tiny flaws that need to be corrected in order to get the kit right.
In reality 90% of these changes will never be noticed by anyone.

The stalker. This is a truly interesting bunch. These are the guys
that linger around their models for the entire meeting or show to
make sure that they can answer any questions about the model that
someone could possibly have. I saw one of these guys out at a show
in Oshkosh and was extremely amused by it. He had a 32 nd scale jet
of some type. When anyone would get near it he would pounce and ask
if they had any questions about it. Now it was a decent enough model,
but frankly it wasn’t earth shattering. It’s one thing
to be proud of a model, it’s another to be obsessive and spending
5-6 hours fifteen feet from your model seems to be leaning that way.

The magazine builder. This is another group that I really love.
This group travels with copies of magazine articles that they have
written about a particular aircraft and put them on the contest table
next to the model. Now this is in the competition area not in the
display area (where I would fully expect it and probably really enjoy
it). There are a couple things about this that bother me. On one
hand the model looks way better in the photos than in person. Second,
get over yourself! There is a time and place for everything and a
hobby show isn’t the time or place for this.

The master builder. This is the coolest of the groups in my eyes.
These are the guys that will bend over backwards to help you out
and answer questions. They have a great grasp on skills and appreciate
builders that are trying to improve their skills. They know that
they are good and don’t have to flaunt it to everyone.

The super master builder. This is a very interesting group. They
are probably the best of the best and will never let you forget it,
enough said.

The super builder. These are the guys that build and build and build.
Basically they can cruise through a kit in a weekend and have it
look decent. There are occasional contest winners, but for the most
part the kits produced are decent. These are the guys that other
guys speculate about how good they would be if they took their time
and really worked on a model. However the guys don’t realize
that it is about the joy of the build to these guys and not necessarily
the winning of awards.

The super detail guy. These are the guys who go into extreme detail
about their kits when asked. From the paint brushes that they used
to the test pilot that flew it, each and every detail is painstakingly
shared.

The regular modeler. Completes 1-3 kits per year and is just happy
to do that. They build when they can and generally put out decent
kits, but their lack of practice hinders them from really showing
off their skills. They have a huge shelf of doom and a bigger shelf
of good intentions.

The irregular modeler. This group completes about 1 kit a month
with generally good quality or above. They don’t say much about
anything unless they are asked. They view their skills as adequate
even though they may be somewhat above this level. In some ways modeling
has become a practice in procedure rather than challenge.

The non-completer. This category should really fall into two classes.
The first class are the guys that just can’t stay interested
enough in a kit to bring it to completion. The second group are the
guys that can’t complete a kit because they simply have to
do so much to it. They have a hard time ever building out of the
box and won’t even look at a kit that they don’t have
to hack to bits.

The contest junkie. This group only builds for contests. Whether
it’s about competition or about prizes, this group is always
ready to throw down if there is a prize of some kind involved.

So where do you see yourself? I can see myself in several of the
areas which will give me a lot to work on in the coming year. So
for now, Happy New Year and why was it you weren’t building?
Shut up and build!